


I'm Starting to See (My Oceans Were Lakes)

by insatiablycurious



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-05-17
Packaged: 2018-03-30 23:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3955369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insatiablycurious/pseuds/insatiablycurious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura recruits her friend (former Lit TA and current crush) Danny, a bickering and currently not speaking to each other Perry and LaFontaine, and her very, very, reluctant vampire roommate Carmilla on a roadtrip from her hometown of Toronto to visit her mother in Santa Barbara for her birthday. Hilarity and Unexpected Emotions ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Starting to See (My Oceans Were Lakes)

**Author's Note:**

> For Greer, Michaela, Jess, Parker, Gin and all the other Hollence shippers who are still hanging on to "almost."
> 
> With love,  
> L

"You should turn that the other way, you're not going to have room for the other bags if you keep shoving them in sideways." Carmilla calls out, leaning back onto her hands from her perch in Laura's yard.

She's been sitting there for the past hour, lazily watching Laura and Danny struggle to fit everyone's duffles and suitcases into Laura's Jeep in preparation of their five day roadtrip from Toronto to Santa Barbara. Laura had invited them all along on the trip to visit her mother and had bribed Carmilla with the promise of time away from Silas and the chance to mock tourists.

Laura sighs exasperatedly and drops LaFontaine's duffle bag onto the sidewalk. She spins around and glares at Carmilla's sunglasses.

"You could help you know." She says, placing her hands on her hips.

Carmilla shrugs and flops backward onto the grass.

"Typical." Laura mutters to herself and turns back to the trunk of her ancient Jeep Cherokee.

"She's not right, is she?" She whispers to Danny's back.

Danny crawls backwards out of Laura's trunk, from where she'd been rearranging Laura's jumper cables and first aid kit, and shrugs.

"Probably." Danny admits.

Laura squints up through the morning sunlight at Danny's face and has the overwhelming urge to reach up and brush the stray strand of red hair hanging in front of Danny's eye out of the way. She swallows.

Her growing crush on Danny, which started out as nothing more than a 'My Hottie McSteamy Lit TA Is Distracting' thing, has now developed into a 'I'm Daydreaming About Holding Her Hand And Wearing Her Hoodie' thing.

Inviting her on this trip is either going to turn out to be the best thing she's done, or the worst.

"Dammit." Laura swears, picking LaF's duffle back up and handing it to Danny before the butterflies in her stomach get the best of her.

Danny eyes it for a moment before stacking it neatly on top of Laura's, like Carmilla suggested.

"I knew you were smart, Xena." Carmilla calls out mockingly.

"Bite me, Granny." Danny snarks back making Laura laugh and Carmilla roll her eyes.

Before Carmilla can retort, a silver car pulls into Laura's driveway. Perry hops out of the passenger's side speaking rapid french to the woman driving and Laura's jaw drops.

"Perry speaks french?" She whispers.

"Her mother is from Montpellier." Danny explains. She waves back to Perry's mother, who had spotted her and begun waving enthusiastically.

"I keep forgetting you two have known each other a really long time." Laura says, waving back at Perry's mother as well.

Danny laughs as Perry walks up with her duffle and a suitcase as her mother drives off.

"I'm not late, am I? I just couldn't decide what to bring. I tried to look up the weather for all the places we're supposed to be stopping based off of the itinerary Danny e-mailed me-"

Laura glances up at Danny with a raised eyebrow.

"Tentative, Perry. Tentative itinerary." Danny interjects, rolling her eyes and reaching for the suitcase.

"-well, still. Everything was so scattered that I wasn't sure whether to only bring clothes for warm weather and a jacket or more clothes for colder weather so-"

"You brought both?" Laura finishes for her, pointing her thumb at Danny attempting to lift Perry's overstuffed suitcase.

"I panicked." Perry replies, shrugging.

"Jesus, what do you have in here? Bricks?" Danny complains, dragging Perry's suitcase to the trunk and heaving it in.

Perry groans and Laura pats her on the arm reassuringly.

"It's-"

"What the hell is SHE doing here!?"

"-fine." Laura finishes, wincing as LaFontaine comes storming down the driveway.

Perry jumps behind a confused Danny, using her as a shield, and looks over at Laura in terror.

"I thought you told them I was coming?" Perry hisses.

"I may have bent the truth a little bit." Laura says, laughing nervously as a fuming LaFontaine stops in front of her.

"Meaning she didn't tell them at all." Carmilla calls out.

"Traitor." Laura growls at Carmilla before turning her attention to LaFontaine.

"I may have invited Perry along." She confesses.

"MAY HAVE?" LaF explodes, gesturing at Perry who was still cowering behind Danny.

"Well, she's my friend too and I wanted all of you guys to come with me on this roadtrip and, honestly, isn't it time the two of you worked through your crap?" Laura says, resting her hands on her hips.

There's silence for a few moments while LaFontaine glowers back and forth between Perry and Laura but it's broken by Carmilla humming something that sounds suspiciously like the Funeral March.

"Can it, Fangface." Danny snaps.

Carmilla shuts up, but she's still grinning as if she's watching her favorite soap opera instead of her friends bickering.

"Fine." LaF says, pointing at Perry. "Fine, but if she-"

They shake their head and turn back toward the house. Perry watches them go sadly, still gripping the back of Danny's shirt.

"They'll come around." Danny assures her. Laura nods.

"It'll be fine, it'll be fun!" She agrees.

Carmilla snorts.

-

"This is a disaster." Laura mutters, leaning back in her seat with a loud sigh.

"What happened to 'it'll be fine, it'll be fun!'" Carmilla teases from the passenger's seat. Laura glares over at her.

"Do you always have to be you?" She snaps.

Carmilla shrugs, still grinning. Her grin drops as she lurches forward. She growls and spins around in her seat.

"If you don't stop kneeing me in the back, Lawrence, I'm going to rip your legs off."

"It's not my fucking fault I'm crammed back here. You were the jackass that called 'shotgun!' and refused to let up even though _I told you_ this would happen." Danny seethes back, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe you and Perry should have taken a separate car." LaFontaine grumbles from behind Laura. Perry, in the middle seat, shifts closer to Danny's side and away from LaF's.

"No! Nobody's taking a separate car." Laura says, gripping her steering wheel tighter. "Once we get through all this traffic, we'll be fine."

"I don't understand why we had to leave today, of all days. It's Friday, the traffic is always shit on Fridays." LaF says.

"I told you guys, we have to get to Santa Barbara by my mom's birthday. It's important. I promised." Laura replies.

"Why don't you just fly there, then?" Carmilla asks.

"The whole point of a roadtrip is that it takes place _on the road_." Danny replies, scoffing.

"But if she needs to be there on a certain day-"

"Why are you complaining when you agreed to go?"

"Can everybody just...stop talking for a few minutes, please?" Laura interjects. "This traffic is really stressing me out."

Danny leans back in her seat and attempts to rearrange her legs without hitting Carmilla again while Carmilla clamps her mouth shut and turns her attention to the window. Perry sighs and attempts to cross her legs, but accidentally bumps LaF's knee causing them to glare at her.

"Sorry." She whispers.

LaF scoffs but doesn't take it any further.

After several minutes of silence, broken only by Laura swearing under her breath when a truck cut her off, Danny clears her throat.

"How about some music?" She suggests.

Carmilla leans forward and turns on the radio. The intro to 'Fancy' starts playing and everyone in the car protests.

"God no."

"Noooo."

"Turn it! Turn it!"

"I can't stand her."

Carmilla quickly switches it to another station. And another. And another.

She settles on one playing 70's and 80's music and grins when she hears Danny humming along to 'Gold Dust Woman.'

"I didn't peg you for a Fleetwood Mac fan, Xena." She teases, leaning back in her seat.

"Are you kidding? They're one of my favorite bands." Danny replies.

"I saw them in concert back in '87." Carmilla says. Danny sits up straight.

"No fucking way."

"Way."

"What other performers have you gotten to see, Carmilla?" Perry asks.

"A ton. But the one I'm most proud of? I saw Billie Holiday in New York when she was just getting started." She replies, grinning.

Danny nearly sends Carmilla into the dashboard as she jumps in her seat.

"Are you kidding me? What was it like?" Danny asks, leaning forward. Carmilla turns to face her.

"Heaven."

Danny stares at Carmilla in awe.

Laura watches them out of the corner of her eye, grinning.

-

"Where are we?" LaF asks, stretching their arms above their head with a yawn.

"Hamilton." Laura replies, closing the door to her Jeep and adjusting her sunglasses.

"And what is this place?" Perry asks, eyeing the run down diner with apprehension.

"Britt's." Laura replies simply, pointing to the faded sign above the door.

She leads the way across the small parking lot to the glass door. A bell jingles as she pushes the door open and she smiles at the familiar sight of the interior.

"Can we sit at a booth?" Perry asks.

"We can't sit at a booth, there's five of us and I'm not squeezing between the Ginger Squad." Carmilla interjects, gesturing at all of them. Laura rolls her eyes.

"Fine, we'll get a table."

She locks eyes with Danny as they walk toward a nearby table and smiles as Danny grins and reaches for the chair closest to her, but her smile drops from her face as Perry grabs Danny by the elbow and half drags her into the chair on the other side of the table.

"I can't sit next to...and Carmilla still kind of scares me..." Perry trails off in a whisper, gesturing erratically.

Danny nods at her and shoots Laura an apologetic smile. Laura smiles back, weakly, as LaF settles into the seat next to her instead. Carmilla flops down into the chair at the end of the table between Danny and Laura and smiles as Laura glares at her.

"What?" Carmilla asks innocently.

"No funny business." Laura hisses, pointing at her.

Carmilla looks at Laura's finger in amusement before laughing and holding up her hands in surrender.

"You've been here before?" Danny asks.

"Yeah! Yeah, my mom used to bring me here sometimes." Laura replies, turning back to face Danny.

"What's good?" Danny asks. Laura grins.

"Personally, I always go for the waffles with strawberries on top-"

Carmilla snorts and Laura kicks her under the table.

"-but it really just depends on what you're in the mood for." Laura finishes.

"Awesome." Danny says, smiling at her before turning back to the menu.

"That chocolate shake sounds really good." LaF comments.

"I was thinking the same thing." Laura agrees.

Perry opens her mouth like she's going to say something, but thinks better of it and goes back to her menu as the waitress appears.

"Are you all ready to order?"

Everyone turns to Laura expectantly, so she clears her throat.

"I'll, uh, I'll have the strawberry waffles and a chocolate shake." She says.

They all take turns placing their orders and Laura blushes slightly when Danny orders the same thing as her and shoots her a wink from across the table. But as soon as the waitress leaves, an awkward silence descends on them all.

Danny's folding a napkin into some intricate shape, LaF is stacking coffee creamers on top of each other and trying not to look at Perry, who's pretending to read something on her phone but Laura can tell she's not actually because her eyes aren't moving, and Carmilla's shredding her straw wrapper into tiny pieces and pretending not to be intrigued by whatever Danny's doing with her napkin.

Laura leans back in her chair with a sigh.

She stretches her legs out under the table and accidentally bumps into Danny's.

"Sorry." She says as Danny looks up at her.

"You're fine." Danny replies, letting her leg rest against Laura's instead of moving it away.

LaFontaine's tower of coffee creamers topples over and they swear under their breath before starting over.

"Well, aren't we a _lively_ bunch." Carmilla jokes.

"Technically, you're dead." Perry replies, not looking up from her phone.

LaF turns their snort into a cough as Laura and Danny look at Perry before looking at each other. Danny raises her eyebrow and Laura shakes her head.

"Funny, June Cleaver. You're a regular riot." Carmilla growls back, rolling her eyes.

Luckily for Perry, the waitress re-appears with their food.

They eat in silence. Danny's leg is warm pressed against Laura's and she's having a hard time concentrating on her plate of waffles. Laura knows Carmilla notices because every time she makes the mistake of making eye contact with her, Carmilla quirks an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth twitches like she's trying not to laugh.

LaF leans back in their chair with a sigh after finishing off the last of their chocolate shake.

"Okay, that was seriously some of the best food I've ever eaten." They say.

"I told you." Laura replies smugly. "This was always my mom's go-to food stop whenever we would go on vacation."

"How long have your parents been divorced?" Perry asks.

"Separated." Laura corrects. "And since I was 13."

She reaches for the check at the center of the table before anyone can protest.

"This first one is on me." She announces.

Danny and LaF both start to protest but Laura holds up her hand.

"Just this one."

They all stand up and make their way toward the exit. As Laura turns to head to the counter, Danny stops her.

"Hey, Hollis."

Laura spins around and Danny holds out her hand.

"Here."

Laura reaches out and Danny gently places the napkin she had been folding into Laura's palm. It's now in the shape of an origami crane. Laura smiles.

"I can keep it?" She asks. Danny laughs.

"Of course."

"Thanks, Danny."

Danny grins and starts to say something when Carmilla sticks her head back in the door.

"For a track star you're awfully slow, Lawrence. Come on already!" She calls.

Danny rolls her eyes and spins around, muttering something vaguely threatening directed at Carmilla under her breath as she follows her back out the door to the parking lot.

Laura looks down at the crane in her hand and smiles. 

-

"Does anyone want anything? I'm going to go get a drink." Laura asks, leaning back into the Jeep window after filling up her gas tank at a station near the border.

"I'll come in with you." Danny offers, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening her door. Laura grins and Carmilla rolls her eyes.

They start walking side by side to the store when Carmilla's voice interrupts them.

"Hey, Juliet and Juliet? One of you want to grab me some gummy worms?" She calls out, leaning her head out of the window.

Danny glares up at the sky and Laura laughs.

"Gummy worms?" She calls back, amused.

"Is that a yes?"

"Fine."

Laura turns back to Danny and gently taps her stomach.

"Come on."

"Seriously, gummy worms?" Danny asks as Laura opens the door to the store.

"I have no idea, nor do I want to know." Laura replies.

She makes a beeline for the Slush Puppies at the back of the store. Danny chuckles.

"Don't laugh. These things are proven to help you survive any roadtrip." Laura replies, matter-of-factly reaching for a cup.

Danny holds up her hands in mock surrender and leans back against the shelf of potato chips behind them.

"What are you getting?" Laura asks, trying to decide between cherry or blue raspberry.

"Nothing. I just wanted to- to stretch my legs." Danny replies, her ears turning slightly red.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Laura turns back to the machine and decides on cherry, trying to suppress the smile forming on her face. Danny runs a hand through her hair before examining the display of candy near Laura.

"Oh man, they have gummy sharks!" Danny exclaims. Laura laughs as she reaches for a straw.

"Are the sharks superior to the worms?" She teases.

"Of course they are, everyone knows that. The sharks have a better taste, plus they're cuter."

"Cuter?"

"Yeah. Hey, did you know that up until around the 16th century sailors used to refer to sharks as sea dogs?" Danny says, grabbing a bag of the gummy sharks and a bag of gummy worms off the rack.

"I did not know that. My dad used to always panic about shark attacks, though. It's why I never learned how to surf even though I really wanted to. Sharks and riptides." Laura replies.

"I could teach you." Danny offers.

"You know how to surf?" Laura asks, nearly dropping her Slush at the mental image.

"I know how to do a lot of things." Danny replies, grinning at her.

Laura shakes her head and, without thinking, loops her arm through Danny's as they walk up to the cashier. Danny lets her hand trail down the inside of Laura's arm when she lets go before placing the two bags of candy on the counter.

"I- uh, I can get Carmilla's-" Laura starts to offer.

"Nah, it'll piss off Countess McBroods more to find out I bought them." Danny replies, winking.

Laura laughs and shakes her head. After Danny pays she steps off to the side to stand by the door while Laura pays for her Slush. Laura glances over at her while the man counts out her change and smiles to herself as she watches Danny reading the back of the gummy shark package.

"Miss?"

Laura jumps and looks back up at the man trying to hand her her change.

"Sorry, thank you."

She turns back to Danny and the door, trying desperately to ignore the butterflies in her chest.

-

"So this is Detroit." Carmilla remarks, staring out the window with an unimpressed look on her face.

"I think it's nice." Laura comments. Carmilla rolls her eyes.

"That's because you haven't seen as many cities as I have, Cupcake."

Danny makes a noise that sounds like an angry bird from the backseat.

"What?" Carmilla asks, turning her head slightly in Danny's direction.

"We get it. You're old." Danny replies. Carmilla rolls her eyes again and Laura wonders if maybe LaF's earlier idea to keep track of how many times she does this wasn't that bad of an idea.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

"You just did."

"Not the point, Captain Gingersnap."

"How does that even-"

"Shut up, I'm trying to sleep!" Perry interjects suddenly, shifting grumpily in her seat before dropping her head onto Danny's shoulder.

Laura glances into the rearview and nearly chokes at the image.

Danny looking at Perry on her shoulder like she's a cat that settled into her lap she doesn't want to disturb, Perry with her eyes closed but her brow still creased in annoyance and LaF glaring out the window like they don't care that Perry's leaning on Danny's shoulder but really they do.

When did her life become such a sitcom?

She sees Carmilla reaching for her Slush out of the corner of her eye and she quickly yanks it away with a scowl.

"Oh, come on." Carmilla whispers.

Laura slurps the last of it loudly and Carmilla rolls her eyes. Again.

"Seriously? Mature."

Laura sticks her tongue out at her before placing the empty cup back in the cup-holder.

"It was worth the age regression." She says.

She hears LaF chuckle behind her and smiles.

-

"Okay, that's it. You two switch places." Laura says, exasperatedly.

They're stopped at a rest stop outside of Toledo so Perry and LaF can use the bathroom and she's had to listen to Carmilla complain about Danny's knees in her back for the last 50 miles.

"What? No way, I'm not sitting in the back with-"

"Get over yourself and move." Laura cuts her off. "If I have to listen, in detail, about how you're going to chop Danny's legs off at the knees for another minute I'm going to strangle you."

"You can't technically-"

"STRANGLE, KARNSTEIN. STRANGLE."

Carmilla's jaw snaps shut and she stares at Laura's frazzled state for a few seconds before silently unbuckling her seatbeat and opening the door. She makes a dramatic gesture at Danny to get in.

Danny slides into the passenger's seat and adjusts it as Carmilla slides into the back. She breathes out loudly through her nose as Carmilla aims one good kick into the back of her seat before settling.

Laura turns back to her window, scanning the sidewalk ahead for Perry and LaFontaine. She spots them walking out of the building, LaF purposefully walking slow so Perry can keep up and she frowns.

"I wish they would work through their issues." Laura muses.

"Perry doesn't handle things well." Danny replies. Laura turns to look at her.

"Yeah, I've noticed. What's up with that?"

Carmilla snorts.

"Isn't it obvious? She's a control freak. And I don't mean that in the 'likes to be on top' way-"

"Jesus Christ." Danny mutters.

"-she's figuring out she has feelings for the bio major and she doesn't know how to handle them because they've been nothing but friends for so long. Plus, LaFontaine's figuring out their identity and obviously not talking to June Cleaver about it because they know she won't deal with it just like she won't deal with her feelings. Someone just needs to lock them in a room until they talk it out." Carmilla finishes, leaning back in her seat with a sigh.

There's a long pause as Laura and Danny stare at her in awe.

"What? Don't look at me like that. I'm not an ignoramus."

"You care." Laura says.

"I don't."

"You do."

"Oh my god, no I don't. It's just annoying." Carmilla grumbles.

Laura shrugs but exchanges amused glances with Danny.

The door opens and Perry freezes comically halfway into the backseat. Carmilla waves at her.

"I- she- wait." Perry protests.

"I'm not going to eat you, god." Carmilla says, rolling her eyes.

"I'll sit next to her." LaF says, lightly tugging Perry out of the way and sliding into the seat next to Carmilla. "'Sup?"

Carmilla smirks and shakes her head. Perry closes the door behind her and she settles in behind Laura.

"Okay, we all good?" Laura asks, starting the Jeep.

"No." Carmilla says.

"Shut up." Everyone in the car replies.

-

They're passing through Fort Wayne when it happens.

Laura's been counting the little white lines on the highway for the past half hour because the radio is turned off since everyone in the backseat is asleep and Danny's reading her book with her head resting against the window. She reaches for her bottle of water and accidentally bumps hands with Danny. She quickly jerks her hand back and flushes at the spark she felt beneath her fingertips.

"Sorry." She mutters.

"No, don't be." Danny replies. 

She glances over at Danny and notices a blush spreading it's way across Danny's cheeks. She glances down at Danny's hand, still resting on top of her own bottle of water, and swallows the butterflies once again swarming her chest.

She reaches out slowly and lightly hooks her finger around one of Danny's. She watches out of the corner of her eye as Danny smiles and then she feels Danny squeeze her finger.

"What's your favorite movie?" Danny asks, closing her book and turning to look at Laura.

"That's a tough one." Laura replies. She considers it for a few moments. "Probably Titanic."

"Interesting." Danny says, grinning at her.

"Why interesting?" Laura asks, glancing over at Danny.

"That one is one of mine, too."

Laura laughs.

"What are some of your others?" She asks.

"I like all kinds of movies. Dirty Dancing. DEBS. Constantine. Sunshine Cleaning-"

"I haven't heard of that one." Laura interjects.

"You'd like it. It's got Emily Blunt and Amy Adams in it. We can watch it sometime?" Danny says, phrasing the last sentence like a question.

"I'd like that." Laura replies.

Danny squeezes her finger again.

"Me too."

Laura tries to focus but Danny's smile and the feeling of her finger hooked around hers makes it hard.

-

They make it to their hotel in Indianapolis just after 10. They would have been here sooner but Perry had _insisted_ they find someplace healthy to stop for dinner.

They lug their stuff down the hall to their room and Laura quickly unlocks the door.

"There's only two beds." Perry says, stopping just inside the doorway.

"Brilliant deduction, Jessica Fletcher." Carmilla deadpans, leaning against the wall.

"I figured we could just double up and then someone could sleep on the couch." Laura suggests, nervously.

"What couch?" Carmilla asks, gesturing at the tiny room.

"Well-"

"It's okay. I can sleep on the floor." Danny offers, dropping her bag next to the wall.

Carmilla turns to Laura and opens her mouth but Perry drops her bag on Carmilla's toes, making her swear instead.

"Laura and I can be bunkmates." Perry says. Carmilla scowls at her.

"I'm fine with that." Laura replies.

"Funsucker." Carmilla mutters under her breath at Perry.

Perry pretends not to hear her.

-

"I'm going to go get a snack." Carmilla announces, reaching for one of the spare key cards on the dresser.

"There's a vending machine down the hall." LaF says, looking up from their laptop and sprawled across the bed.

"Cute, Doc. Real cute." Carmilla replies, shoving the keycard into her back pocket and going for the door.

"She doesn't mean that kind of snack, LaF." Laura comments, settling back against the headboard.

"Don't get caught." Perry calls after her from her spot in the chair by the window, where she's settled reading through a magazine about knitting patterns.

Carmilla ignores her and slams the door.

Danny comes out of the bathroom in a pair of gym shorts and an oversized long sleeve shirt.

"Where's she going?"

"To bite people." LaF replies, not looking up from their computer.

Danny snorts before looking around the room. She awkwardly gestures at the bed Laura's sitting in.

"Can I?"

"Of course!" 

Laura shifts and Danny drops down beside of her. Laura hands her the tv remote.

"I can't find anything."

Danny smiles and starts flipping through channels before settling on House Hunters.

"Really, Lawrence?" LaF asks.

"What? It's a good show." Danny replies, slightly offended.

"I'm fine with it." Perry says.

"You would be." LaF mumbles.

Perry goes back to her magazine without a word.

Danny sets the remote back down and accidentally rests her arm on top of Laura's.

"Sorry." She whispers, jerking her arm back.

"No it's- I don't mind." Laura whispers back. Danny smiles and replaces her arm on top of Laura's.

"Okay."

-

"Are you sure you're okay sleeping on the floor?" Laura asks, watching as Danny spreads the spare comforter out by the window.

Perry and LaF were already asleep and Carmilla still hadn't returned from her nightly prowl.

Danny smiles and grabs the pillows from the end of the bed.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine." She replies.

Laura sits down on the end of the bed she's sharing with Perry and continues to watch in silence as Danny arranges the pillows before grabbing Laura's extra quilt from the jeep and tries shaking it out on top of her makeshift bed. 

"Do you want me to help-"

"Yeah, sure."

Laura reaches out and takes half of the quilt from Danny and helps her unfold it.

"This might be a little small for you." Laura says.

"I'll be okay." Danny assures her.

Laura starts to take a step backward and stumbles slightly over the edge of the comforter on the floor. Danny catches her before she topples forward on her face.

"You good?" Danny asks, her face close enough that Laura could count every freckle across her nose if she wanted to.

She definitely wanted to.

"Yeah I'm- yes."

Danny nods slowly, not taking her eyes off Laura's.

She starts to lean down a little bit and just as Laura holds her breath and tilts her head up-

The door opens and Carmilla slouches in, causing both Danny and Laura to jerk away from each other.

"Well, I feel much better. June and Ward already out?" She asks, closing the door behind her.

"Yes." Laura replies, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice and failing judging by the amused stare she gets from Carm.

She sighs and climbs into the bed next to Perry as Carmilla kicks off her shoes and flops down next to LaF, who rolls over with a grumble.

"Goodnight." Carmilla sings.

Danny doesn't reply. She looks over at Laura and mouths 'sorry.' Laura smiles back and watches as Danny settles into her makeshift bed.

"Goodnight." She whispers.

Danny smiles back at her.

"Goodnight."

Laura rolls over on her back and stares up at the ceiling.

She replays the almost kiss in her mind over and over until she finally drifts off to sleep.


End file.
